Interesting that the Wired article didn't link to an earlier Wired article mostly about George Antheil's masterpiece for the player piano, Ballet mécanique. Although mostly about Antheil, it also contains more information about Lamarr and spread spectrum later in the article. It's a fascinating read about a man's unreachable dreams of a mechanized symphony of player pianos finally coming to life after his death, using modern music technologies.
Fine. Sue people a bunch of Linux people. Good strategy. Fire off a bunch of lawsuits towards a group of people who are used to working underground. And who are rabid about being oppressed by large stupid companies to the point of DEVELOPING A FREE ENTERPRISE-CLASS 64-BIT CLEAN POSIX COMPATIBLE OPERATING SYSTEM FROM THE GROUND UP. Good strategy. Hey, while you're at it, have you thought getting rid of that hornet's nest in your backyard by smashing it with your bare hands?
In all seriousness, whether or not the DVD guys win this case or not (and I have a feeling it's going to be one hell of a fight) it's never going to be over. Even if the DVD lawyers shut down every single hosting website, and stop the de-CSS authors from working it won't end. The code will be mirrored, and perpetually posted to Usenet, and irc, and home-DSL-hosted FTP sites. Future code development will take place in other countries. And that's future code development. The "secrets" they keep referring to are as good as gone.
I mean honestly, what does the DVD CCA have to gain other than slowing down development and keeping DVD players out of official Redhat distributions and such. We're only left with alienating Linux geeks - which as I've said before is *not* A Good Idea. Unless I'm missing something. If so, please enlighten.
Don't be silly. When you say that "Their version of actual events was inaccurate," what events are you referring to? That a newscast occured? The news is not what is being reported on. If the story on CBS news was "CBS News has set up studio in Times Square," then it would be something else. But it isn't. CBS has made the presumption that people are cabable of making a distinction between the news and the forum in which news is conveyed. I think most people would agree that that's a fair assumption.
It is not the same as replacing Boris Yeltsin's head with Brad Pitt's, and I think if CBS actually started to make any additions to the news, people would just stop watching.
What fascinates me about this whole situation is that news departments are in the business of removing information to the point of distorting the news, but people only get upset when information is added. You would think that slashdotters would be a little more cynical about the media, but it's the subtraction of facts from stories that have made me give up on popular news outlets in the first place. If you don't like the news, read Pacifica, BBC, Slashdot, and Salon. That's where the real news is anyway. Duh.
Some people have talked about the possibility of Linux and the AS/400 playing nice. Man, that would be nice. Rumor was about a year ago that IBM had already ported Linux to the 400 native, and if that's true, I want it.
But frankly, at this point, it's not the best thing IBM could do for the AS/400 and Linux. OS/400 is a better match, since the AS/400 is such an odd box. Making OS/400 gratis would be a better step then getting a good port of Linux to the 400.
But we all know that's not going to happen. I don't see why IBM doesn't instead focus on making it so that people would want to use the AS/400 more. Namely, work towards getting the AS/400 to integrate a little nicer with Unix. For instance, telnetting from an AS/400 to a Linux box is full of trouble - passwords aren't obscured, Pine, Lynx is unusable, etc. If they could just make it so that there was something along the lines of (although probably not specifically) a TN5250 termcap entry and maybe a 5250 getty or a 5250 API library for unix that would allow at least basic vt100-level compatability. Being able to host AS/400 applications off a unix box would be great for AS/400 ASPs to develop software for AS/400 users without hiring AS/400 developers.
Also, it would be good if IBM could get an Apache port to the 400, and make it so you can download and compile it from ftp.apache.org. Apache on the AS/400 with modperl would be a godsend. BTW - does anybody know if this exists? If so, please let me know!
It would also be nice if IBM would pump some money and a programmer or two into the Linux TN5250 client - it's so damn close, but not yet production level. The problem is with closed protocols, it's hard to do. Why doesn't IBM focus there?
Again, IBM, we don't need an AS/400 Linux port right now, we just need OS/400 to be more Unix and Internet friendly. Please.
It's funny, Mac OS Rumors also has a live report from Macworld and they haven't mentioned a thing about OS X completely opening their source. How odd that a group so on top of the Darwin release would just overlook this major paradigm shift on behalf of Apple.
It seems like the reporter from mac-tips.com is a bit of a (not to mean this too pejoratively) Mac user. Here's what I think Steve Jobs probably said: "The Foundation of OS X will be Completely Open Source." And the mac-tips guy thought he was saying that the entire OS would be Open Source. I'd love to be able to compile up OS X on my PC tonight as much as the next guy, (hell, open Quicktime would be nice too) but somehow I don't think it's going to happen.
Well, I think that's kind of why people use Linux over OpenBSD. I mean, sure, OpenBSD is probably a bit more stable, more secure, etc, but it doesn't have AGP/USB/BizarroFS/System390 support as the tradeoff. That's kind of what makes Linux Linux. I'm afraid that once Linux gets to the point where things like getting an ultra-mellow kernel through code audits, etc. become a priority; another "more fun" alternative will emerge.
I suppose it all boils down to why you're using Linux in the first place. If it's the GPL that you like, HURD will probably be more up your alley. However, if it's not the GPL, or odd hardware support, or the bleeding edge mentality, or the fun factor that brings you to Linux, what's the point?:-)
Homer: America, take a good look at your beloved candidates. They're nothing but hideous space reptiles. [unmasks them] [audience gasps in terror] Kodos: It's true, we are aliens. But what are you going to do about it? It's a two-party system; you have to vote for one of us. [murmurs] Man1: He's right, this is a two-party system. Man2: Well, I believe I'll vote for a third-party candidate. Kang: Go ahead, throw your vote away. [Kang and Kodos laugh out loud] [Ross Perot smashes his "Perot 96" hat] -- "Treehouse of Horror VII"
The next day, Kodos announces the result: "All hail, President Kang."
The field in front of the Capitol has now become a working ground where humans are whipped by aliens and used to carry materials.
The Simpsons family is working too, with Homer and the kids carrying wood, and Marge pushing a wheelbarrow of cinderblocks -- with Maggie on top.
Marge: I don't understand why we have to build a ray gun to aim at a planet I never even heard of. Homer: Don't blame me, I voted for Kodos.
From Episode 1F14, "Homer Loves Flanders" (as stolen by me from snpp.com): ---- The Simpsons watch yet another edition of "Eye on Springfield", with your host, Kent Brockman.
Kent: Tonight, on "Eye on Springfield": just miles from your doorstep, hundreds of men are given weapons and trained to kill. The government calls it the "army", but a more alarmist name would be -- "The Killbot Factory." ---- Always cracks me up when I see that one.
If people were OSs, BSD would be an accountant. Efficient, not too fancy, to the point, and not opposed to a little blatant capitalism from time to time as long as it got things done. Linux (and a lot of other GNU stuff), on the other hand is a genius hippie. Long haired, occasionally bong-hitting, Lennon-listening cool guy who happens to be a math whiz and plays concert piano. He may not get the job done as well as the first guy, but he's a lot more fun to hang out with!
Okay bad metaphor. My point is that I think the success of Linux is possibly due to the fact that the Linux community is a little bit funky. And I like that. And I think a lot of people like that. For instance, user support is like being lost and asking a hippie for directions. He won't try to sell you a map, or instead give you directions to a store where he's trying to sell you something. True, the directions might be a little odd, and he might smell a little funny, but it's okay, because as they said at Woodstock, we're all feeding each other.
What mystifies me is how big business is suddenly interested in Linux. I feel as if they've been bamboozled, but in a good way, like actually getting a pig elected to President. If big business actually knew what was good for them, they would adopt BSD like gangbusters. Big companies like things like restrictive licensing, being mean, and other things the BSD license permits them. But amazingly they've adopted Linux, and now Linux is beginning, in a good way, to corrupt those companies from the inside.
Well I say nee-haw. Advocacy has paid off, and I say we take the money and run. If Redhat and other companies want to spend millions on producing high-quality GPLed software, I say right on. Free software will never collapse. It will never be un-useful. As long as we're true in our hearts and we code like madmen, the GPL will protect us, and that's exciting. That's why people fall in Linux, and that's why I fell in love with Linux.
[This groggy Monday morning rant was brought to you by Coffee, or rather the lack thereof.]
I think what you're forgetting is that Slashdot folks aren't just blind fight-for-the underdog maniacs. It's just that usually the underdog is in the right. Here, he is not.
...The TCP/IP Illustrated series. Volume 1 is perhaps the best end-to-end TCP/IP reference, ever. I'm going to go read it right now. You're right. He's awesome.
I'm sure the Slashdot guys could drop you a few suggestions as well, such as:
Preview your posts, to make sure they don't include a bunch of broken links
Don't post offtopic messages, especially whiny diatribes about how much Slashdot sucks
Don't post messages totally in boldface
Don't italicize bolded text for extra emphasis
Don't use purposely short paragraphs to make your post look longer and more important.
So please, if you're planning on giving feedback to Slashdot in the future, remember that having a poorly-constructed little offtopic cry is probably not the best way to communicate your ideas.
Let's put it this way," says Redhill. "Over the years, we have created and sustained many of the world's most durable brands. We make a lot more hits than companies who think up their own symbols and names. I'm not suggesting that a company couldn't get it right with a stroke of insight or genius or luck. But if it's your own brand, how can you possibly be objective? I mean, would you name your own baby?" Redhill thinks for a minute, then backpedals. "I mean, of course you would name your own baby. But wouldn't you ask your friends and family for suggestions and recommendations? Perhaps they would open your eyes to a name you'd never considered."
I mean, are these guys for real? They are con artists at the best. At the worst, elite patronizing assholes.
I mean, my god, can you believe that someone doesn't want to name their company Gravoent? I mean, it scores very highly on the Standardized Normalized Associative Kinesthetic Educational Optical Integrated Linguistics (S.N.A.K.E.O.I.L) test. I've flown on the Concorde, for Chrissakes. I'd like to see their making-up-funny-names credentials. Oh what, you don't have any making-up-funny-names credentials. Well, I'll have you know I majored in making up funny names, did my masters thesis on making up funny names, and have several years field experience making up funny names.
"The seven bullets M$ has to avoid to survive the next eighteen months"
Seeing how ESR is a gun nut, I was half expecting to see:
8) Actual Bullets. According to ESR, "The path of the righteous man is beset on all sides by the inequities of the selfish and the tyranny of evil men. I will strike down upon thee with great vengeance and furious anger those who attempt to poison and destroy my brothers. And you will know I am the Lord when I lay my vengeance upon you!"
Please, please don't implement a click-through counter. On any site. Ever. I used to use Hotbot until they started doing that nonsense. It makes for good data-mining by the proprieters of the site, but it makes it impossible for anybody who isn't Joe Clickblindly to use the site.
For instance, I like being able to right-click on a link and Copy Shortcut. Also, if the site itself is slow, you have to wait for the counter to register the link, then you get meta-refreshed to the destination. And Slashdot is admittedly a little sluggish from time to time.
If there was some way built into HTML to do a clickthrough transparently, that would be another thing. Of course, I would probablly disable that feature in my browser, but that's another story altogether.:-)
Actually, according to the Bogomips mini-howto's bogo guestimation chart, the K6-2 should be more like 21875x faster((350*2)/(8*0.004)), at least as far as bogos go. So even assuming bogos are wildly innacurate, the figure your benchmarker gave is pretty dang close, or at the very least an underestimate of the difference between the two chips.
If people associate goto.com with such a big well branded name, then I would think that that is a good thing.
No, you see, now goto.com gets all that inadvertent name recognition like before with the added advantage of go.com losing it. Of course once go.com starts their new ad campaign, goto.com will probablly get eventuall lost in the clutter of all-the-same portals, so in the end Yahoo wins because their site is A.) Clean and easy to use, B.) Has major name recognition and C.) Has that commercial with the guy with a 'fro.
Ah, white guys with 'fros. It works on so many levels.
I miss being able to say rash things on Slashdot. It used to be, you could say things that were a little bit out there, a little bit abrasive, a little bit stupid. Then along came moderation. Comments like that got moderated down. People have now begun qualifying their statements with "...now I just *know* this will get moderated down".
Now, I'm as guilty as the next guy of reading comments with a +2 threshold, but it was nice when the volume of contents was lower, so you got the good with the bad, and the bad was kind of fun, like the wackos that call into Art Bell. Don't get me wrong, I certainly don't miss "First Post," and I don't even like having to think about the mean idiocy that took place after W. R. Stevens died, but in a way, some of Slashdot's innocense is lost. I miss people telling coarse jokes, using the F(uck)-Word, making sly comments about Microsoft that weren't "Micro$haft sux"
And now that the media is doting on Slashdot's every stray and off-color comment, I don't want to see a stupid quote taken out of context and published on MSNBC.
Oh well, I'd be happy with a UID+score threshold, even if it is somewhat elitist.
So I refuse to cede any important freedom to make them feel comfortable. (I do try to make them comfortable about using and developing free software, but not by sacrificing the ultimate goal.) Stig would willingly do so, because the freedom of people in general is not such a priority for him -- that is his basic disagreement with the Free Software movement.
You want to know why I like the idea of Free Software? Because of stuff like this. RMS isn't on anybody's side, except ours. He doesn't have the best interests AT&TCIMSTimeWarnerGEWaterhouse inc. in mind. He's not pushing a license designed to extract free development labor whilst pocketing all the profits himself. No - he wants what's best for the people - what will give them (us) the most amount of control. There are so few people in the world that are talking sincerely about the fundemental freedom of individuals, it makes me just that much more sure that GNU and the GPL are good ideas.
They are attempting to document the Rare Glitch Project, a legendary version of Microsoft Windows designed to be compact and stable.
Why does he feel the need to be so inflammatory? Such a thing already exists. It's called NT 3.51. Actually, I shouldn't even say that. There's nothing that wrong with NT 4, even, provided you've got good hardware. It's just that most of the applications Microsoft writes to run on top of NT that either aren't stable or just resource-consuming. For instance, you can run a machine with Exchange server for months, even years without rebooting, it's just a memory hog. On the other hand, Proxy server crashes fortnightly. The common thing about both products is that they really do some innovative awesome stuff, but are implemented poorly. If Proxy server never crashed, and Exchange took up 1/5 of the RAM it does, (and was a bit faster) they would be awesome products.
I'm just more than a little sick about people ragging so hard on Windows. Unless you are guided by truly altruistic beliefs, using only Free(tm) Software, and never releasing a non-GPLed source; use Linux/BSD when it's appropriate. Indeed, use NT when it's appropriate, because sometimes it is!
If somebody asked me to write an article about Star Trek, (and I was a better writer) this is exactly the article I would have written. This is the first "Star Trek Sucks" analysis that reveals the most obvious reason why Star Trek isn't good anymore: Rick Berman.
If people ask me if I like TNG, I'll say "sure, seasons 1-5". Seasons 6 and 7 were so completely different from the previous stuff, it was almost a new show. I don't know about anyone else, but I felt incredibly cheated when ideas that Roddenberry had obviously wanted to incorporate into the series over time; such as the idea of an alien civilization "seeding" the galaxy's genepool, or the fate of young W. Crusher were "dealt with" in single tritely-written episodes leading up to the finale, as if to get rid of all that silly nonsense about the potential of the human race so we can get back to the good stuff: space station soap operas and blowin' stuff up!
So here's my proposal: Paramount if you're listing, you need to do two things: 1. Stop being jerks. Overmerchandising, and even worse, cracking down on copyrights used by the freaking community of devoted fans that has kept your mini-empire from crumbling 2. Hire me. Yes, that's right, I humbly offer my services as the full-time curator of the Star Trek universe. I don't know much about production value, I don't know much about profit margins, but I know Trek.
Bah. It'll never happen. Besides, I'm not even sure if Paramount's even worthy of getting a second chance. Trained monkeys could do a better job of keeping Gene's vision alive. Face it: if Paramount was forced to make a choice between Voyager and Ally McBeal on their Wednesday lineup, which one do you think they'd choose?
All right, I'll put it in terms that even a Paramount Executive could understand: by not investing in the long term success of the series by truly putting some thought into what goes, you'll lose the fanbase that was attracted to the series in the first place: people who like thought-provoking, cool-feeling, well-written sci-fi. As is usually the case in everything, short term micro-managment is what will kill a project. Even one as cool as Star Trek.
Does anybody remember in, I think, Steven Levy's Hackers where at Stanford, they used to have a double or nothing vending machine. Wouldn't that be awesome? Push a button before making your selection, and there's a 50/50 chance you'll get your quarter ($0.50?) back. That would be great. Nobody loses or gains any money in the long run, but at least it would add a bit of spice to your life. Actually, the vendor would make more money as compulsive gamblers would play every day, even if they didn't really like soda.
I've always been of the opinion that global overpopulation is the root of a lot of our problems. Perhaps even most of them. And while this report is somewhat heartening, it's still a little depressing that will not be until 2050 before we *might* start to see any change.
That's nice and all, but there's a fair chance I might not live that long. Hell, our ecosystem might not make it that long. The time for change is really right now.
Making a bit of a stretch, I think that free software (as in beer) + low-cost internet connectivity could be what saves us in the end. Remember the stories about Linux being used in Mexico, where their CS budgets were way below those in more affluent countries? Imagine both the social and economic possibilities of hard-working people who just happened to be born in an impoverished country being able to run a powerful unix-like operating system on $30 (or less) worth of hardware. Just as migrant athletes from Caribbean islands leave their countries to play baseball in the US, someday very soon we may see people who ordinarily would have lived their lives in poverty under an oppressive government having the leisure to choose a top paying job in the country of their choice.
But I digress. My point is this: due to the rapid global socialization that Internet access provides, we may soon see the most rapid transition from poverty to total empowerment that the world has ever known. And when people are empowered about their lives, they will go from simply trying to survive to being able to step back from their lives, and make conscious decisions about their futures and the futures of their children.
It is for these reason of empowerment that I believe population rates will begin to go down in countries where tools such as internet access and good health care are available. Consider birth control. People won't start using birth control until they can a) get good information about birth control and b) get birth control agents c) they understand why it's important to use birth control in the first place. Here in the US, we have the luxury of obtaining that knowledge and applying it wisely. Once that luxury is spread around a bit, I am not certain, but very, very hopeful, that rapid change will finally occur.
And that, my friends, is what excites me about Linux. An operating system by and for the people. The viral nature of the GPL may in the end be the force that sets the people of this planet free. At least I hope it does. Global economic upheaval r00lz.
Slashdot Mirror
Interesting that the Wired article didn't link to an earlier Wired article mostly about George Antheil's masterpiece for the player piano, Ballet mécanique . Although mostly about Antheil, it also contains more information about Lamarr and spread spectrum later in the article. It's a fascinating read about a man's unreachable dreams of a mechanized symphony of player pianos finally coming to life after his death, using modern music technologies.
Fine. Sue people a bunch of Linux people. Good strategy. Fire off a bunch of lawsuits towards a group of people who are used to working underground. And who are rabid about being oppressed by large stupid companies to the point of DEVELOPING A FREE ENTERPRISE-CLASS 64-BIT CLEAN POSIX COMPATIBLE OPERATING SYSTEM FROM THE GROUND UP. Good strategy. Hey, while you're at it, have you thought getting rid of that hornet's nest in your backyard by smashing it with your bare hands?
In all seriousness, whether or not the DVD guys win this case or not (and I have a feeling it's going to be one hell of a fight) it's never going to be over. Even if the DVD lawyers shut down every single hosting website, and stop the de-CSS authors from working it won't end. The code will be mirrored, and perpetually posted to Usenet, and irc, and home-DSL-hosted FTP sites. Future code development will take place in other countries. And that's future code development. The "secrets" they keep referring to are as good as gone.
I mean honestly, what does the DVD CCA have to gain other than slowing down development and keeping DVD players out of official Redhat distributions and such. We're only left with alienating Linux geeks - which as I've said before is *not* A Good Idea. Unless I'm missing something. If so, please enlighten.
Ross
"The Communazis and Terrorphiles have launched their distributed cyberwarfare attack against out systems! Give the order to deploy countermeasures!"
"Sir, there's no such thing as countermeasures, or for that matter cyberwarfare."
"Order them to to deploy countermeasures!"
"Sir, I will not give that order!"
Don't be silly. When you say that "Their version of actual events was inaccurate," what events are you referring to? That a newscast occured? The news is not what is being reported on. If the story on CBS news was "CBS News has set up studio in Times Square," then it would be something else. But it isn't. CBS has made the presumption that people are cabable of making a distinction between the news and the forum in which news is conveyed. I think most people would agree that that's a fair assumption.
It is not the same as replacing Boris Yeltsin's head with Brad Pitt's, and I think if CBS actually started to make any additions to the news, people would just stop watching.
What fascinates me about this whole situation is that news departments are in the business of removing information to the point of distorting the news, but people only get upset when information is added. You would think that slashdotters would be a little more cynical about the media, but it's the subtraction of facts from stories that have made me give up on popular news outlets in the first place. If you don't like the news, read Pacifica, BBC, Slashdot, and Salon. That's where the real news is anyway. Duh.
Some people have talked about the possibility of Linux and the AS/400 playing nice. Man, that would be nice. Rumor was about a year ago that IBM had already ported Linux to the 400 native, and if that's true, I want it.
But frankly, at this point, it's not the best thing IBM could do for the AS/400 and Linux. OS/400 is a better match, since the AS/400 is such an odd box. Making OS/400 gratis would be a better step then getting a good port of Linux to the 400.
But we all know that's not going to happen. I don't see why IBM doesn't instead focus on making it so that people would want to use the AS/400 more. Namely, work towards getting the AS/400 to integrate a little nicer with Unix. For instance, telnetting from an AS/400 to a Linux box is full of trouble - passwords aren't obscured, Pine, Lynx is unusable, etc. If they could just make it so that there was something along the lines of (although probably not specifically) a TN5250 termcap entry and maybe a 5250 getty or a 5250 API library for unix that would allow at least basic vt100-level compatability. Being able to host AS/400 applications off a unix box would be great for AS/400 ASPs to develop software for AS/400 users without hiring AS/400 developers.
Also, it would be good if IBM could get an Apache port to the 400, and make it so you can download and compile it from ftp.apache.org. Apache on the AS/400 with modperl would be a godsend. BTW - does anybody know if this exists? If so, please let me know!
It would also be nice if IBM would pump some money and a programmer or two into the Linux TN5250 client - it's so damn close, but not yet production level. The problem is with closed protocols, it's hard to do. Why doesn't IBM focus there?
Again, IBM, we don't need an AS/400 Linux port right now, we just need OS/400 to be more Unix and Internet friendly. Please.
It's funny, Mac OS Rumors also has a live report from Macworld and they haven't mentioned a thing about OS X completely opening their source. How odd that a group so on top of the Darwin release would just overlook this major paradigm shift on behalf of Apple.
It seems like the reporter from mac-tips.com is a bit of a (not to mean this too pejoratively) Mac user. Here's what I think Steve Jobs probably said: "The Foundation of OS X will be Completely Open Source." And the mac-tips guy thought he was saying that the entire OS would be Open Source. I'd love to be able to compile up OS X on my PC tonight as much as the next guy, (hell, open Quicktime would be nice too) but somehow I don't think it's going to happen.
Well, I think that's kind of why people use Linux over OpenBSD. I mean, sure, OpenBSD is probably a bit more stable, more secure, etc, but it doesn't have AGP/USB/BizarroFS/System390 support as the tradeoff. That's kind of what makes Linux Linux. I'm afraid that once Linux gets to the point where things like getting an ultra-mellow kernel through code audits, etc. become a priority; another "more fun" alternative will emerge.
:-)
I suppose it all boils down to why you're using Linux in the first place. If it's the GPL that you like, HURD will probably be more up your alley. However, if it's not the GPL, or odd hardware support, or the bleeding edge mentality, or the fun factor that brings you to Linux, what's the point?
[As stolen by me from snpp.com]
Homer: America, take a good look at your beloved candidates. They're
nothing but hideous space reptiles. [unmasks them]
[audience gasps in terror]
Kodos: It's true, we are aliens. But what are you going to do about
it? It's a two-party system; you have to vote for one of us.
[murmurs]
Man1: He's right, this is a two-party system.
Man2: Well, I believe I'll vote for a third-party candidate.
Kang: Go ahead, throw your vote away.
[Kang and Kodos laugh out loud]
[Ross Perot smashes his "Perot 96" hat]
-- "Treehouse of Horror VII"
The next day, Kodos announces the result: "All hail, President Kang."
The field in front of the Capitol has now become a working ground
where humans are whipped by aliens and used to carry materials.
The Simpsons family is working too, with Homer and the kids carrying
wood, and Marge pushing a wheelbarrow of cinderblocks -- with Maggie
on top.
Marge: I don't understand why we have to build a ray gun to aim at a
planet I never even heard of.
Homer: Don't blame me, I voted for Kodos.
From Episode 1F14, "Homer Loves Flanders" (as stolen by me from snpp.com):
----
The Simpsons watch yet another edition of "Eye on Springfield", with your host, Kent Brockman.
Kent: Tonight, on "Eye on Springfield": just miles from your doorstep, hundreds of men are given weapons and trained to kill. The government calls it the "army", but a more alarmist name would be -- "The Killbot Factory."
----
Always cracks me up when I see that one.
If people were OSs, BSD would be an accountant. Efficient, not too fancy, to the point, and not opposed to a little blatant capitalism from time to time as long as it got things done. Linux (and a lot of other GNU stuff), on the other hand is a genius hippie. Long haired, occasionally bong-hitting, Lennon-listening cool guy who happens to be a math whiz and plays concert piano. He may not get the job done as well as the first guy, but he's a lot more fun to hang out with!
Okay bad metaphor. My point is that I think the success of Linux is possibly due to the fact that the Linux community is a little bit funky. And I like that. And I think a lot of people like that. For instance, user support is like being lost and asking a hippie for directions. He won't try to sell you a map, or instead give you directions to a store where he's trying to sell you something. True, the directions might be a little odd, and he might smell a little funny, but it's okay, because as they said at Woodstock, we're all feeding each other.
What mystifies me is how big business is suddenly interested in Linux. I feel as if they've been bamboozled, but in a good way, like actually getting a pig elected to President. If big business actually knew what was good for them, they would adopt BSD like gangbusters. Big companies like things like restrictive licensing, being mean, and other things the BSD license permits them. But amazingly they've adopted Linux, and now Linux is beginning, in a good way, to corrupt those companies from the inside.
Well I say nee-haw. Advocacy has paid off, and I say we take the money and run. If Redhat and other companies want to spend millions on producing high-quality GPLed software, I say right on. Free software will never collapse. It will never be un-useful. As long as we're true in our hearts and we code like madmen, the GPL will protect us, and that's exciting. That's why people fall in Linux, and that's why I fell in love with Linux.
[This groggy Monday morning rant was brought to you by Coffee, or rather the lack thereof.]
I think what you're forgetting is that Slashdot folks aren't just blind fight-for-the underdog maniacs. It's just that usually the underdog is in the right. Here, he is not.
...The TCP/IP Illustrated series. Volume 1 is perhaps the best end-to-end TCP/IP reference, ever. I'm going to go read it right now. You're right. He's awesome.
Preview your posts, to make sure they don't include a bunch of broken links
Don't post offtopic messages, especially whiny diatribes about how much Slashdot sucks
Don't post messages totally in boldface
Don't italicize bolded text for extra emphasis
Don't use purposely short paragraphs to make your post look longer and more important.
So please, if you're planning on giving feedback to Slashdot in the future, remember that having a poorly-constructed little offtopic cry is probably not the best way to communicate your ideas.
But it still seems a little odd to be forced to show an ID just to buy a printer.
I suppose that would suck if you were purchacing the printer so that you could make fake IDs, wouldn't it?
"Oh, you want to see my ID, do you? Well, I've got it right here, but before I buy it, is it all right if I print out a few sample images?"
Let's put it this way," says Redhill. "Over the years, we have created and sustained many of the world's most durable brands. We make a lot more hits than companies who think up their own symbols and names. I'm not suggesting that a company couldn't get it right with a stroke of insight or genius or luck. But if it's your own brand, how can you possibly be objective? I mean, would you name your own baby?" Redhill thinks for a minute, then backpedals. "I mean, of course you would name your own baby. But wouldn't you ask your friends and family for suggestions and recommendations? Perhaps they would open your eyes to a name you'd never considered."
I mean, are these guys for real? They are con artists at the best. At the worst, elite patronizing assholes.
I mean, my god, can you believe that someone doesn't want to name their company Gravoent? I mean, it scores very highly on the Standardized Normalized Associative Kinesthetic Educational Optical Integrated Linguistics (S.N.A.K.E.O.I.L) test. I've flown on the Concorde, for Chrissakes. I'd like to see their making-up-funny-names credentials. Oh what, you don't have any making-up-funny-names credentials. Well, I'll have you know I majored in making up funny names, did my masters thesis on making up funny names, and have several years field experience making up funny names.
(Sarcasm mode off)
I mean, C'MON!!!
"The seven bullets M$ has to avoid to survive the next eighteen months"
Seeing how ESR is a gun nut, I was half expecting to see:
8) Actual Bullets. According to ESR, "The path of the righteous man is beset on all sides by the inequities of the selfish and the tyranny of evil men. I will strike down upon thee with great vengeance and furious anger those who attempt to poison and destroy my brothers. And you will know I am the Lord when I lay my vengeance upon you!"
:-)
Please, please don't implement a click-through counter. On any site. Ever. I used to use Hotbot until they started doing that nonsense. It makes for good data-mining by the proprieters of the site, but it makes it impossible for anybody who isn't Joe Clickblindly to use the site.
:-)
For instance, I like being able to right-click on a link and Copy Shortcut. Also, if the site itself is slow, you have to wait for the counter to register the link, then you get meta-refreshed to the destination. And Slashdot is admittedly a little sluggish from time to time.
If there was some way built into HTML to do a clickthrough transparently, that would be another thing. Of course, I would probablly disable that feature in my browser, but that's another story altogether.
Actually, according to the Bogomips mini-howto's bogo guestimation chart, the K6-2 should be more like 21875x faster((350*2)/(8*0.004)), at least as far as bogos go. So even assuming bogos are wildly innacurate, the figure your benchmarker gave is pretty dang close, or at the very least an underestimate of the difference between the two chips.
If people associate goto.com with such a big well branded name, then I would think that that is a good thing.
No, you see, now goto.com gets all that inadvertent name recognition like before with the added advantage of go.com losing it. Of course once go.com starts their new ad campaign, goto.com will probablly get eventuall lost in the clutter of all-the-same portals, so in the end Yahoo wins because their site is A.) Clean and easy to use, B.) Has major name recognition and C.) Has that commercial with the guy with a 'fro.
Ah, white guys with 'fros. It works on so many levels.
I miss being able to say rash things on Slashdot. It used to be, you could say things that were a little bit out there, a little bit abrasive, a little bit stupid. Then along came moderation. Comments like that got moderated down. People have now begun qualifying their statements with "...now I just *know* this will get moderated down".
Now, I'm as guilty as the next guy of reading comments with a +2 threshold, but it was nice when the volume of contents was lower, so you got the good with the bad, and the bad was kind of fun, like the wackos that call into Art Bell. Don't get me wrong, I certainly don't miss "First Post," and I don't even like having to think about the mean idiocy that took place after W. R. Stevens died, but in a way, some of Slashdot's innocense is lost. I miss people telling coarse jokes, using the F(uck)-Word, making sly comments about Microsoft that weren't "Micro$haft sux"
And now that the media is doting on Slashdot's every stray and off-color comment, I don't want to see a stupid quote taken out of context and published on MSNBC.
Oh well, I'd be happy with a UID+score threshold, even if it is somewhat elitist.
So I refuse to cede any important freedom to make them feel comfortable. (I do try to make them comfortable about using and developing free software, but not by sacrificing the ultimate goal.) Stig would willingly do so, because the freedom of people in general is not such a priority for him -- that is his basic disagreement with the Free Software movement.
You want to know why I like the idea of Free Software? Because of stuff like this. RMS isn't on anybody's side, except ours. He doesn't have the best interests AT&TCIMSTimeWarnerGEWaterhouse inc. in mind. He's not pushing a license designed to extract free development labor whilst pocketing all the profits himself. No - he wants what's best for the people - what will give them (us) the most amount of control. There are so few people in the world that are talking sincerely about the fundemental freedom of individuals, it makes me just that much more sure that GNU and the GPL are good ideas.
They are attempting to document the Rare Glitch Project, a legendary version of Microsoft Windows designed to be compact and stable.
Why does he feel the need to be so inflammatory? Such a thing already exists. It's called NT 3.51. Actually, I shouldn't even say that. There's nothing that wrong with NT 4, even, provided you've got good hardware. It's just that most of the applications Microsoft writes to run on top of NT that either aren't stable or just resource-consuming. For instance, you can run a machine with Exchange server for months, even years without rebooting, it's just a memory hog. On the other hand, Proxy server crashes fortnightly. The common thing about both products is that they really do some innovative awesome stuff, but are implemented poorly. If Proxy server never crashed, and Exchange took up 1/5 of the RAM it does, (and was a bit faster) they would be awesome products.
I'm just more than a little sick about people ragging so hard on Windows. Unless you are guided by truly altruistic beliefs, using only Free(tm) Software, and never releasing a non-GPLed source; use Linux/BSD when it's appropriate. Indeed, use NT when it's appropriate, because sometimes it is!
If somebody asked me to write an article about Star Trek, (and I was a better writer) this is exactly the article I would have written. This is the first "Star Trek Sucks" analysis that reveals the most obvious reason why Star Trek isn't good anymore: Rick Berman.
If people ask me if I like TNG, I'll say "sure, seasons 1-5". Seasons 6 and 7 were so completely different from the previous stuff, it was almost a new show. I don't know about anyone else, but I felt incredibly cheated when ideas that Roddenberry had obviously wanted to incorporate into the series over time; such as the idea of an alien civilization "seeding" the galaxy's genepool, or the fate of young W. Crusher were "dealt with" in single tritely-written episodes leading up to the finale, as if to get rid of all that silly nonsense about the potential of the human race so we can get back to the good stuff: space station soap operas and blowin' stuff up!
So here's my proposal: Paramount if you're listing, you need to do two things: 1. Stop being jerks. Overmerchandising, and even worse, cracking down on copyrights used by the freaking community of devoted fans that has kept your mini-empire from crumbling 2. Hire me. Yes, that's right, I humbly offer my services as the full-time curator of the Star Trek universe. I don't know much about production value, I don't know much about profit margins, but I know Trek.
Bah. It'll never happen. Besides, I'm not even sure if Paramount's even worthy of getting a second chance. Trained monkeys could do a better job of keeping Gene's vision alive. Face it: if Paramount was forced to make a choice between Voyager and Ally McBeal on their Wednesday lineup, which one do you think they'd choose?
All right, I'll put it in terms that even a Paramount Executive could understand: by not investing in the long term success of the series by truly putting some thought into what goes, you'll lose the fanbase that was attracted to the series in the first place: people who like thought-provoking, cool-feeling, well-written sci-fi. As is usually the case in everything, short term micro-managment is what will kill a project. Even one as cool as Star Trek.
Does anybody remember in, I think, Steven Levy's Hackers where at Stanford, they used to have a double or nothing vending machine. Wouldn't that be awesome? Push a button before making your selection, and there's a 50/50 chance you'll get your quarter ($0.50?) back. That would be great. Nobody loses or gains any money in the long run, but at least it would add a bit of spice to your life. Actually, the vendor would make more money as compulsive gamblers would play every day, even if they didn't really like soda.
News for nerds? I think so. Allow me to meander:
I've always been of the opinion that global overpopulation is the root of a lot of our problems. Perhaps even most of them. And while this report is somewhat heartening, it's still a little depressing that will not be until 2050 before we *might* start to see any change.
That's nice and all, but there's a fair chance I might not live that long. Hell, our ecosystem might not make it that long. The time for change is really right now.
Making a bit of a stretch, I think that free software (as in beer) + low-cost internet connectivity could be what saves us in the end. Remember the stories about Linux being used in Mexico, where their CS budgets were way below those in more affluent countries? Imagine both the social and economic possibilities of hard-working people who just happened to be born in an impoverished country being able to run a powerful unix-like operating system on $30 (or less) worth of hardware. Just as migrant athletes from Caribbean islands leave their countries to play baseball in the US, someday very soon we may see people who ordinarily would have lived their lives in poverty under an oppressive government having the leisure to choose a top paying job in the country of their choice.
But I digress. My point is this: due to the rapid global socialization that Internet access provides, we may soon see the most rapid transition from poverty to total empowerment that the world has ever known. And when people are empowered about their lives, they will go from simply trying to survive to being able to step back from their lives, and make conscious decisions about their futures and the futures of their children.
It is for these reason of empowerment that I believe population rates will begin to go down in countries where tools such as internet access and good health care are available. Consider birth control. People won't start using birth control until they can a) get good information about birth control and b) get birth control agents c) they understand why it's important to use birth control in the first place. Here in the US, we have the luxury of obtaining that knowledge and applying it wisely. Once that luxury is spread around a bit, I am not certain, but very, very hopeful, that rapid change will finally occur.
And that, my friends, is what excites me about Linux. An operating system by and for the people. The viral nature of the GPL may in the end be the force that sets the people of this planet free. At least I hope it does. Global economic upheaval r00lz.
Ross